196 Mr. Robberds on the former Level of the German Ocean, 



supplying their brine in all its strength and purity, unimpaired 

 by the mixture of fresh-water. It is very immaterial whether 

 these manufactories of salt were, or were not, equally distri- 

 buted over all the branches of these valleys : their existence 

 in one quarter and their absence in another must have de- 

 pended upon many local circumstances, into which it is un- 

 necessary to carry our inquiries. It is sufficient for us to have 

 found such works so far up into the interior of the country, as 

 at South Walsham, Halvergate, Fritton and Cantley ; for they 

 prove that the sea actually flowed up to those points not mox'e 

 than seven centuries ago, and consequently that the aestuary 

 must have remained during at least Jive-sixths of what Mr. 

 Taylor calls the existing state of oxtr globe. We perceive that 

 by some operation of nature a great change has been effected ; 

 and according to credible records, that change was so far com- 

 pleted in the year 1347 that the floods were then sensibly 

 withdrawn from a large portion of that space which they had 

 previously covered. The theory which has been advanced in 

 opposition to mine, supposes the whole of this revolution to 

 have occurred in the interval of 261 years, between 1086 and 

 1347 ; for we have evidence that at the former of these dates, 

 the waters filled the valley to as high a level as Mr. Taylor 

 will allow them ever to have reached, and that at the latter 

 period the sand-bank by which he supposes them to have been 

 excluded, was finally stretched across the original mouth of 

 the aestuary. During thirty-four centuries and a half (I go 

 on admitting for the sake of argument the supposed aera of the 

 deluge), it is clear then that the sea continued to " roll its 

 tides " to as great an elevation in the Valley of the Yare as, 

 accorduig to Mr. Taylor's ideas, they ever extended ; and, con- 

 sequently, during the whole of this immense term of years, — 

 during a space five times as long as that which has elapsed 

 since, — the law of nature, which was at last brought into ope- 

 ration to shut out these waves, was either suspended, or if not 

 suspended, was working to no effect ! I will not dwell upon 

 the inconsistency of such a notion, but proceed to those more 

 powerful and conclusive arguments which will demonstrate 

 the utter incompetency of the cause itself to produce the ef- 

 fects that have been ascribed to its agency. 



Mr. Taylor's first position is, that a ridge of pebbles, shingle 

 and sand, being thrown up across the opening of the former 

 aestuary, by degrees excluded the sea; and that the quantity 

 of water subsequently admitted was thus so much reduced 

 as to be not more than sufficient to fill the channels of the 

 existing rivers. But Mr. Taylor forgets that this argument 

 tells both ways. If these banks shut out the waters of the sea, 



they 



